A complete antithesis of the sprawling American metropolis, San Francisco’s 800,000 plus inhabitants live in tight-knit but strongly contrasting neighbourhoods set across a small peninsula in one of the country’s most desirable natural settings. Watching fog shroud the Golden Gate Bridge or seeing the Transamerica Pyramid rise in extraordinary contrast behind houses of an earlier era are not isolated incidents but everyday occurrences in this city, for some the best place to visit in the USA, where beauty comes close to being taken for granted. Small wonder then, that even the travel writers most hopelessly addicted to hyperbole run out of superlatives when trying to describe San Francisco: in short, it’s a place that’s hard to fault – and sometimes even harder to believe.

A delightfully self-possessed city and the only urban area in California where having a car is a liability, San Francisco also has a past of distinction. The gold rush helped make it a major Pacific port, and a few decades later the outrageously rich Big Four rail barons controlled the fate of the whole state from million-dollar mansions on the city’s Nob Hill. Like much of San Francisco, the Nob Hill houses were destroyed by a calamitous earthquake and fire in 1906, but an incredible amount of the city’s history survives forcefully into the present, be it the vibrant ethnic enclave of Chinatown, a result of one of the grimmer episodes in California’s back pages, or the magnificent leftovers of the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition, such as the breath taking Palace of Fine Arts, which signalled the city’s recovery from the 1906 disaster.

Since then, San Francisco has been the birthplace of beatniks, hippies, and gay and lesbian liberation: social explosions right in step with San Francisco’s spirit of liberalism and tolerance, but never threatening to upset the equilibrium of what could well be America’s most harmonious community.

Using this section – on foot

So compact and close together are San Francisco’s various districts, and so rich are they in points of interest, San Francisco is ideally discovered on foot.

For this reason, we’ve interpreted the whole city in terms of five different walks, each with a theme, and each introducing key areas of the city. The information in each of the five walks can just as well be absorbed in an armchair to get to grips with the city in its various different aspects; and, of course, the hotel and restaurant recommendations can be consulted as and when needed.

Although anyone who runs short of breath trudging up the city’s hills may think otherwise, the ups and downs of San Francisco are an essential part of its character, rewarding all who climb them with stunning views at every peak.

The five walks take in all the city’s major sights while exploring its most distinct and interesting districts, also focusing on history, architecture and shops, and imbibing the contemporary flavour.

Each route can easily be covered in half a day, but we suggest giving a full day to a leisurely pursuit of each one – which will also allow plenty of time to recover after scaling the stiffer gradients.

San Francisco has more dining places than New York and, whether it’s a dim sum lunch in Chinatown, a six-course Italian dinner in the North Beach, or a burger in a realistically-decorated night clubbers’ hang out on Haight Street, eating is an essential aspect of this city’s life, a subject close to San Franciscan hearts.

Arriving

Transportation links are generally quick and reliable from San Francisco’s airport (www.flysfo.com), which is 13 miles south of the city. Numerous privately run minibuses, such as Express Airport Shuttle (www.airportexpresssf.com) and Super Shuttle (www.supershuttle.com) collect passengers from the traffic island directly outside the terminal. Alternatively, there is the BART subway system. If you want to save some cash, and experience real San Francisco make sure you head for the Air Train exits, there are two Red and Blue, either will get you to the BART subway system. Buy your ticket from the machines, like any underground railway system – you can pay by cash, or handily by credit card. Follow the signs to the platform and train that you want like you would do with any other underground railway system.
Taking a taxi into the city will cost around $30 – $60.

If you come to San Francisco by train you may find yourself across the bay in Oakland, where free shuttle buses meet the trains and carry passengers to the city’s Transbay Terminal, 425 Mission Street. Greyhound buses (www.greyhound.com) also finish their journeys at the Transby Terminal.

Public transport

Cable cars are an enduring symbol of San Francisco but these days are primarily run as a tourist attraction, being limited to two routes: one between Downtown and Fisherman’s Wharf, the other between the Financial District and Nob Hill. Tickets can be bought from self-service machines. Much more widespread are the buses run by MUNI (www.sfmta.com) on routes displayed at most bus stops and in local phone books. Single journey fares are $2.25 (pay the driver with exact fare). A MUNI Passport might save money; valid on all MUNI services for one, three or 7 days, these cost $15, $23 or $29 respectively. The Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system is an underground train system chiefly of use for crossing the bay to Berkeley and Oakland: fares range according to distance travelled; tickets can be bought from machines at BART stations with cash or by card.

Accommodation guidelines

Not only eating, but also sleeping, is rich with possibilities in San Francisco. The main hotel areas are close to Union Square and Fisherman’s Wharf, but we prefer to avoid these congested areas in favour of the more residential neighbourhoods, which have greater character. If money is no object, the luxury hotels of Nob Hill should be your goal. For style and attentive service at a lower price, the small “boutique hotels,” which tend to found between Nob Hill and Downtown, are a sound choice.

The city’s most atmospheric places to stay, however, are the scores of rambling Victorian houses that have been refurbished and converted into bed-and-breakfast inns.

Neighbourhoods to avoid

A relatively safe place with few of the social problems of other major American cities, San Francisco does nonetheless have its unpleasant sections. Avoid the Tenderloin area, west of Union Square, which has street prostitutes and seedy bars, and expect homeless people around the plazas of the adjoining Civic Centre area. Overall you will find San Francisco is among the world’s most user-friendly cities. What’s more, with the exception of the contrived attractions of Fisherman’s Wharf, it is not a place that falls over itself to please visitors – which, of course, should please them all the more.